Nutrition, Diet and Health Tips

The fast paced world we are living in has changed the social dynamics of life. In Kenya, women from most communities were home- makers ( meaning it was their sole responsibility to take care of homes) and their male counterparts were to source for food for survival and other basic commodities like shelter, clothing and school fees.

Modernisation has changed alot with both genders working and little is been put into home care. So how does this affect Health?

✅ There’s limited time for food selection, preparation and cooking. Traditional foods that need craft are no longer eaten on a regular as it was before. Also there’s more use of refined & Processed foods because they’re accessible & easy to prepare. Less time consuming.

This has had a negative impact on both Nutrition & Health status and we have cases of Obesity, Uncontrolled blood sugars, Hormonal Imbalances increasing by the minute.

Business daily Kenya published a report, https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/economy/half-of-educated-women-of-reproductive-age-in-kenya-obese–4292330
showing that more than half of the educated women of reproductive age in Kenya are obese.

As bad as it is, I’m in agreement with the findings. In my day to day activities as a dietitian, I am inclined to work with women more ( I am a woman lol) and my age bracket been the reproductive one, I meet alot of women in that bracket.

The way we are doing things currently, Obesity cases are about to explode if changes are not put in place.

What are the dangers of Obesity in Fertility?

✅ Obesity has been linked to hormonal imbalances in women making it harder for them to conceive naturally.

Leptin insensitivity has been dominant in obese women of reproductive age. It affects food intake, which affects, fat storages ( insulin), which translates to change in body mass and as women we don’t like been ‘ fat’. This becomes a source of stress in our body’s increasing cortisol production and the cycle continues which will affect Estrogen & Progesterone and this will have an impact on Fertility negatively.

✅ Obesity also affects the metabolic function negatively. Most obese women have a slowed metabolic rate. Their homeostasis balance does not function optimally which interferes with alot of things like having the energy and the stores to carry a pregnancy to term leading to increased numbers when it comes to misscarriages and still births.

✅ Another thing, Obese women are more likely to have pregnancy complications like Gestational Diabetes/ Hypertension, low Hb and others which will have an effect on the pregnancy outcomes. Obese women are also more likely to have complications during labor/ childbirth. This reduces Fertility negatively.

So how can we reduce Obesity in Women of Reproductive Age?

✅ Encouraging intake of whole foods – as hard as it may sound, it’s possible & doable. I understand that we are modernised and weekends are no longer for families or food preparation but instead we want to complete with our male counterparts on who can drink more Gin or whisky. By the way, over consumption of alcohol is also a leading cause of Obesity & infertility.

So instead of wasting our weekends in the bar, let’s purpose to do batch meal preparation for the week to ensure that we have access to Healthy food at all times.

If you’d prefer resting and you still want access to Healthy food, reach out to us @muminawellness for customised meal preparation packages. We will take care of your meal combinations as well and in the process teach you and your households the foundations of health which is currently been left out.

✅ Reducing exposure to toxins & harsh chemicals. As I have said above, toxins interfere with the way our system works. It makes it harder for waste elimination and the only way the body can cope is storing it as fat .
Ofcos there are toxins that we have no control over, things like environmental pollution,  but things like synthetic sugars, alcohol, cigarettes,  vapes, weed, Skin & Hair care products, too much junk and unsafe water all this we can control. Let’s be more nicer to our bodies for our future generations.

✅ Encouraging Physical Exercise. You might be here wondering why I’m talking about things that an educated woman would know, but I kid you not this things are rarely done by our educated women .

We have the excuses that we are busy juggling between career growth & maintaining a social Life so finding time for physical exercise is impossible. But seriously, I am not even asking you to do 1 hour, just 20 minutes 5 days a week. If you think about it, that’s only 1 Hour for five days and if done consistently it can have a very positive impact on your nutrition & health status and improve fertility..

I also understand that there’s alot of Mindset shifts that influence behaviour and that is why I have linked this Mindset shifts for weight loss video for you to have a look after this.
https://youtu.be/NS0u7DA0ZEA
I promise it’s enlightening.

✅ Encourage enough REST & Sleep. Loooong hours without rest are NOT productive hours. We have normalised alot of things that affect our health negatively and one of those is lack of sleep. We are so busy chasing money that we forget to take care of our bodies. Imagine making money to spend it on dialysis, fertility treatments or even worse chemotherapy/ radiotherapy? Just because you could not take a breather to take care of your body by resting?

Lack of enough sleep has been associated with hormonal imbalances in women and an increase in mental disorders like anxiety, depression, psychosis, general sadness and more which have a negative impact on Fertility.

Let’s plan our work week, month or even year, bearing in mind that rest is important.

✅ Stress Management – As long as you are alive, be prepared to deal with life stressors like family, finances, FERTILITY and others. Adapt measures like doing things you like, professional help and more to break from stress addiction.

Your body is constantly bombad with stressors from environmental pollutants, bad diets, metabolic stress, emotional burdens, financial & family issues and more on a daily. The worst part is it is your sole responsibility to find ways of copying so that you can protect your body from the degenerative effects of stress.

Stress has been associated with occurrence of disease both communicable & non – communicable because of lowered immune function and a compromised metabolic function.

As a closing shot, Nutrition interventions have been recommended to both women & Men struggling with infertility.

At Mumina Wellness Solutions, we just don’t prescribe diet plans, we make sure they are Safe, Realistic and Sustainable. We also plan for follow up and give guide on supplements/ herbs that improve fertility. We have several packages and we tailor them with your specific needs in mind. See poster below for more.

I encourage you to reach out and let’s walk together in this recovery journey.

Signed with love always,
Your favourite Dietitian
Lilian Mumina
Mumina Wellness Solutions
https://youtu.be/NS0u7DA0ZEA